Club suspends cyclists after attack

Cape Town - The names of the two cyclists, who allegedly assaulted a Cape driver, are to be given to cycling authorities by their cycling club.

A Cape Town student on Monday spoke exclusively to the Cape Argus about his ordeal after being attacked by cyclists – an incident which went viral on social media.

Ibrahim Waggie, 19, had been assisting as a volunteer at a charity event on Sunday, the Sunshine D Polar Ice Cream 10km Big Walk. His job was to drive a Toyota Quantum van, which tailed the field. The fellow volunteers in his van were tasked with picking up empty water sachets along the route.

After stopping at a red traffic light, he was allegedly assaulted by cyclists who used fists, a bicycle and pepper spray. The perpetrators were later identified as members of the Muhammedeyah Cycling Club.

The chairman of the club, Igshaan Isaacs, wrote to a host of organisations on Tuesday, including the Pedal Power Association (PPA), the Western Province Cycling Association, Cycling SA and the Western Province Sports Council, offering them an apology “for this unfortunate incident and behaviour”.

“The club vigorously and vehemently condemns the behaviour of the members in the manner they retaliated to this situation,” Isaacs wrote.

Later in the letter, he explained that “it has been brought to our intention (sic) that our members were provoked by the driver of the motor vehicle… However, this does not justify their conduct.

“The club has referred this incident together with the names of the identified members to Peddle (sic) Power Association and Western Province Cycling who will institute disciplinary proceedings.

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Meantime, the pair had already been suspended by the club.

However Steve Hayward, chairman of the PPA, said the club had omitted to include the names and these had been requested.

“We can’t take action against them if they’re not PPA members,” Hayward said.

If the pair were members, “then the chairman of our disciplinary committee will present findings to our board, once he has studied all the facts and called any witnesses”.

The maximum sanction was a life ban from all PPA events.

Meantime, the PPA would decide whether it was happy that just two club members had been named – and would be barred from the Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle Momentum Tour, on Sunday. As a development club, the club had been given 93 free entries.

Hayward said: “It’s horrible, and we don’t support behaviour like that from any cyclist – no matter how heavily provoked. One could also see that they were riding abreast. We call on all cyclists to obey the law. We want to root out the bad guys. We would encourage people who see transgressions by cyclists to report them to info @pedalpower.org.za”

The pair, and any other perpetrators, also face potential sanction from the Western Province Cycling Association and, in turn, Cycling SA – but, again, only if they were members.

By Tuesday night, there had been no arrests and Waggie said he had “heard nothing further” from police.